McDonald
Optimized both operations and costs through vendor integration
Achieved cost reduction and increased sales
Challenge
Optimization and cost reduction for call centers operated by multiple vendors
Benefits
- Improvement of support quality through integration of multiple contact points
- Flexible system design that combines on-site and near-shore resources
- Success in reduction of personnel costs and expansion of sales
Service
Shigeru Fukushima
DIRECTOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION DEPARTMENT RISK MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
McDonald’s Company(Japan),Ltd
A partner who thinks from the same perspective as McDonald’s.
Since McDonald’s operated call center contacts with multiple vendors, there was a problem of not being able to properly respond to customer comments.
For that reason, this time we integrated the contact points in order to aggregate customer comments and direct them to our management.
In selecting a vendor from among many proposals that addressed productivity, operator education, and technology, the deciding factor for the selection was receiving a proposal from transcosmos, which operated a customer service center from its inception. Their proposal reflected the same customer perspective as McDonald’s and also included measures for reviewing costs.
As a result of integration with transcosmos, greater efficiency of operations has been achieved, and cost reductions have been realized. This has also led to increased sales of McDelivery.
In order to respond to the touch points that are being diversified by the transformation of technology, we are looking forward to future proposals with the broad response capabilities of transcosmos and the McDonald’s perspective.


Aiming for quality improvement and increased efficiency through vendor integration
McDonald’s Company (Japan), Ltd. (hereafter, McDonald’s) is the largest hamburger restaurant chain which operates 2,921 stores nationwide, and as a leading food company it is committed to always offering the best dining experience to all customers visiting its locations. Call centers that consult and receive opinions are important points of contact with customers, and they are constantly working to improve business operations in order to provide better services.
McDonald’s previously had a call center contact for each type of service, and these were operated separately by different vendors as well as in-house. Since there was no cooperation between the call center contacts, there were cases in which responses to customers were delayed, and this caused inconvenience. Also in terms of cost, owing to the lack of cooperation it was not possible to respond to issues such as business share, and this resulted in high costs. Therefore, they decided to combine the vendors.


Flexible system combining on-site and near-shore
In order to improve this situation, transcosmos built a call center that optimizes operational and cost characteristics based on the level of difficulty and similarity of work.
First of all, at the McDonald’s call center in Tokyo (hereafter, Tokyo center), three contact points were in operation, namely customer contacts, internal inquiry contacts and application inquiry contacts, and since each of these operated independently they were not able to cooperate with one another. Therefore, transcosmos established a system to centrally manage the three individual contact points in order to achieve cooperation among them.
In addition, in order to achieve the maximum cost-effectiveness at an order desk for McDelivery services, which directly relate to McDonald’s sales, the order desk was constructed at an off-site near-shore center where costs are reduced, and a large number of personnel can be assigned.
Moreover, this center responds to matters such as highly urgent inquiries and operates as an escalation center for over-flow calls from the Tokyo center. In addition, it also functions to respond during disasters as a countermeasure for BCP *1.
In this way, transcosmos has created a flexible system that combines on-site and near-shore resources, as well as a call center that maximizes its cultivated know-how.
*1 Business Continuity Planning


Supporting both cost reduction and sales growth
We eased the load on the Tokyo team and reduced personnel costs by extracting tasks that could be transferred from the relatively expensive Tokyo center and shifting them to an external near-shore center. Furthermore, we succeeded in dramatically boosting the average response rate of the McDelivery service desk and expanding delivery service sales in comparison with the past.
As a result of this vendor integration, smoother customer support has been realized through cooperation between the “application bug contact” and the “complaint response contact,” where we have succeeded in greatly reducing the total number of incoming calls, such as claims resulting from inquiries about applications, by handling them immediately.
transcosmos will strengthen cooperation between the McDonald’s Tokyo center and the external near-shore center, while continuing to promote flexible support and cost optimization tailored to the circumstances of both operations. In addition, along with “Always on,” which is one of McDonald’s marketing policies, transcosmos’s call centers are also always aiming to provide close support for users and to contribute to the expansion of customer contacts.

